South African remake for Uttaran

Mumbai, April 2 -- While many successful Hindi TV shows have been remade in regional languages in the country - mainly in south India - we rarely hear of these serials travelling abroad. Now, it seems Colors's hit show Uttaran might be one of the first to go overseas, as the rights to the drama have been sold to a South African channel called Kiss TV.

"Uttaran is one of Colors's flagship shows and it is known for its strong characterisation and storyline. We wanted to take the story to an international audience, supplementing the demand for concept-backed shows. Distributing the show via the IndiaCast network, we will now be able to reach out to a global market and share Indian content with a different audience," says Gaurav Gandhi, chief operating officer of IndiaCast, the distribution company of Colors.

The show, which revolves around the story of two close friends - Ichcha and Tapasya - who grow up together but eventually fall in love with the same man, has been remade in Swahili for the foreign viewers.

The producers in South Africa have already finished shooting 30 episodes with local actors and the show is currently on air there.

In India, Uttaran has previously been dubbed in Tamil and airs on Raj TV in a popular slot. The Hindi show recently crossed the 1,000-episode mark.